First Day...First Book

"We have a little girl in our program, a pre-school child. She liked her book so much, she slept with it every night under her pillow. She wouldn't part with it for anything!"

What's your favorite book? Do you remember the very first book that was your own, that maybe set you on the path to a lifetime of reading?

Though lots of kids have been Back to School already,  the day after Labor Day really feels like the first day of school as we turn the page into September and start thinking about putting the flip flops away.

"A teacher told us that when she asked her class to bring in a book from home, three of the students brought in the phone book because that was the only book they had" Kyle Zimmer, First Book

Many of us have warm fuzzy memories of our first day at school. For me I still love a new box of crayons and keep one on my desk, you never know when coloring will come in handy! The best part of any Back to School day for me though were the new books! I still have so many of the books from my early reading years and I credit them for starting my life long love of reading and collecting books.

There are so many kids,however, that don't have the joy of owning their very own books, a joy that goes such a long way toward creating a Reader.

That is where First Book comes in....First Book's commitment is to ensure that all kids have that special connection with books by giving children from low income families their First Book! Through community based mentoring and family literacy programs First Book has distributed over 85 million books and educational materials and resources to school and groups throughout the U.S. and Canada  since the program began in 1992.

With donations from Book sellers and publishers and corporate partnerships , First Book and its National Book Bank reaches children all across the country. In addition the First Book Marketplace sells books and educational materials at great discounts to organizations working with low income children and families.

In an independent Harris poll the results of First Book's model are impressive. The poll surveyed over 2,000 First Book participants and determined that " More than half of the children — 55% — reported having an increased interest in reading. Additionally, the number of young people demonstrating a "high interest in reading" nearly tripled (increasing from 23% to 61%) after receiving books from First Book."

Books are a treasure in my life and I cannot imagine my world without them. In celebration of Back to School Visit First Book   and help so many children get the gift that opens worlds.

"A young boy and I taught his mother how to read and we all cried for joy together. It couldn't have happened without First Book."   

Conquille Indian Tribe:

A Good Cover-Out of Print, T Shirts with a Mission

Out of Print

Books are the treasured

wealth of the world

and the fit inheritance

of generations and nations.

-Henry David Thoreau

As long as I can remember I have loved old book shops.  They are few and far between in this country now, even in an old city like Boston. As we go digital and Kindle out our libraries, the feel of the page and the weight of the book in our hand connecting us to the words we read is getting lost, as is the experience of flipping through a dusty book that has been lovingly read by who knows how many adoring readers. Old books shops and independent bookstores are treasures, you never know what you will find and often you can  uncover some out of print covers.

When you roam the shelves of your favorite book shop searching for something new to read it is the cover that draws you in first-that cover must tell a story long before you turn the first page.  Book jacket art very often sells you the book, books with stories that you may hold dear and return to again and again.  A wonderful site, Out of Print ,celebrates classic and iconic book cover art, often from out of print editions of famous titles, and prints them on Ts that are  "...treated to feel soft and worn like a well-read book."  

 

T shirts are not only fun fashion,but also a way to make a statement. The Ts from Out of Print  not only  cheer great literary art and our love for all things with pages, but with every T sold  Out of Print  will donate a book to a community in need through Books for Africa, an organization dedicated to "ending the book famine in Africa" by collecting and distributing books to children in Africa and spreading the joy of books and reading. In October of last year after only 10 months Out of Print sent over 20,000 books to Africa.  

Out of Print also sells iPhone and e-reader covers with their cover art. Be sure to visit their blog with posts all about wonderful independent new and used bookshops and great literary finds.

Ready to Read-Jumpstart Opens the Pages

Back to School, Back to Books! I admit I miss this time of year when new boxes of crayons and fresh unopened books await on a clean desk. I have been known to stroll the aisles of Staples and pick up a cute folder or a fresh box of Crayolas just because it is September. I also find myself in the picture book section of the bookstore, lovingly flipping through copies of my favorites...Pooh of course is always in the pile.

I don't think there is anything more wonderful in my childhood memories than someone reading to me. My lifetime love for books and reading grew from those very special hours. Reading to a child is such a simple act, yet there is nothing that brings more joy or value to a child's educational development than reading to them. Books open worlds for kids, especially kids who don't have access to wide educational opportunities.

This is why I am such a fan of Jumpstart, a wonderful mentoring program partnering preschool children and college students and community volunteers to build reading and educational skills through one on one mentoring. The goal of Jumpstart is that every child entering school will be fully prepared to succeed and will also become lifetime readers.

Jumpstart shares that children from low-income communities typically enter kindergarten with one fourth the vocabulary of their middle-income peers. The importance of early learning cannot be overstated and so many kids do not get that "Jumpstart". A child’s reading level in 1st grade is one of the best predictors of his/her future performance in 10th grade and without that early involvement kids will be constantly playing catch up and may just fall behind or simply drop out.

Jumpstart began in 1993,and since then more than 70,000 preschool children across America have benefited from millions of hours of Jumpstart mentoring. This year, Jumpstart volunteers will share more than one million hours with 15,000 preschool children in 80 communities across America.

On October 8, Jumpstart's 4th Annual Literacy initiative National Read for the Record Day, considered the world's largest reading event, celebrates the joy of reading. Read for the Record Day is a very simple idea-a worldwide effort to read the same book on the same day to pre school children...last year 700,000 readers read Corduroy all over the globe in classrooms, libraries and I would guess by bedsides too. This year the goal is one million readers and Jumpstart has released a special edition of The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle in celebration of the classic picture book's 40th anniversary.

This version comes with instructions on how to encourage literacy and create readers. Visit Read for the Record to sign up, get involved and download the tool kit. Get your copy to read along at a local school or community group or at home or donate a copy to a family or community in need or make a $50 donation which will provide a library of 20 books to a preschool.

You can also join or create a Virtual Book Drive with the goal of 250,000 books donated to low income families and communities . For every $10 raised Jumpstart will donate a book to a child in need.

No greater gift to give a child, or yourself, than to share a new book and the joy of reading!